Doubting Fyora

"Farren, COME ON!” Brujyh urged his reluctant friend to hurry up. “Fyora Day will be over if you keep this pace!”

Bru had been waiting for the Ruler of Faerieland’s special day for months already; it was torture waiting these last few hours on the way to the celebrations. He couldn’t wait to see what new item would be released in Fyora’s Hidden Tower and the new faerie themed items, let alone the celebrations in Faerieland. There would be beautiful poems, fantastic artwork, maybe even another Fyora themed avatar. Plus, he’d even heard rumor that the Queen was more likely to give her own quests on her day, and her quests were no joke! Bru counted the possibilities for the day’s adventures, growing more excited by the minute.

“You should be more excited Farren! You DO know that Fyora defeated the Darkest Faerie and saved all the lands in Neopia, don’t you?” Bru tried desperately to get his friend pumped up.

“Actually, I have a cousin who has an uncle that is brothers with a lupe named Tor, and Tor says that it was his sorcerer friend Roberta and him that defeated the Darkest Faerie because she had trapped Queen Fyora and turned the lands of Meridell and Brightvale dark. He says there’s even a game that shows the entire event in some other land.” Farren replied to Bru’s enthusiasm with skepticism as usual. Even though he had doubts about all the stories surrounding the Darkest Faerie and didn’t know what to believe, Farren did love getting quests from the Queen since she was so generous with her rewards. A bump up in level, four hit points and four strength points saved hours, even days for some pets, of training time.

“Well, that’s obviously just a tall tale. You said yourself it’s from some made up world, the truth lies right here in Neopia.” Bru answered with unwavering loyalty that impressed Farren.

“Well you have a point…either way I suppose it’s no reason not to enjoy the festivities and pay respect to the Queen. Regardless of her past feats, she’s ruled Neopia with a gentle hand and kind spirit for so long- that can’t be easy.” Farren finally relented, and Bru’s imagination was set free for the rest of their journey to Faerieland. He thought of all the faerie food and gazing at the artifacts and battledome weapons in the Hidden Tower. He even hoped that they’d get lucky during their travels and earn the random event that would give them a 10% discount at the hidden tower. Then they could get the Richest avatar by buying and reading the Grimoire of Prosperity book!

Once they arrived in Faerieland, which really didn’t take as long as Bru made it seem since they were only coming from Farren’s hut in the Haunted Woods, they were amazed by the beauty of the land. Everything was in shades of pinks and purples, the grass was the most luxurious shade of green and overlooking it all stood the castle that radiated happiness. They couldn’t see the Hidden Tower from here but they were sure they could find it once entering Faerie City.

They began heading towards Faerie City since most of the activity would be in the heart of Faerieland, but they were easily distracted along the way. They stopped at the Wheel of Excitement and each had a go even though they’d both already earned the avatar ages ago: Farren landed on the skull and got Chickaroo, so they headed to the healing springs next while Bru laughed at the werelupe acting like a chicken. The healing faerie completely healed Farren and they were happily on their way, with Bru only imitating Farren’s chicken impression two, maybe three times. There were so many things they wanted to do, but they decided that they’d only make one more stop on the way to Faerie City; they wanted to visit The Discarded Magical Blue Grundo Plushie of Prosperity (TDMBGPOP) since neither of them had earned that avatar yet. They did hope they would have time to go to the Faerie Caverns and see a Poogle Race before heading home later in the day though. As they approached TDMBGPOP, they both tried to talk to the plushie with the anticipation of getting a new avatar. Unfortunately, neither of them had any luck, so it was best that they were on their way.

They arrived in Faerie City feeling like they’d already been on an adventure, but as soon as they saw the inside of the city their excitement bubbled up again. There was bustling activity everywhere to be seen- there was a line out of the Faerie Book Shop that went all the way around the Faerie Paint Brush gallery, and the line from the Faerie Paint Brush gallery wound around the Faerie Book Shop. There were Neopets milling about, laughing and having a good time, most carrying snacks they bought at the Faerie Foods store.

Farren and Bru looked at each other with a silent agreement: they’d go to the Hidden Tower first and try to avoid the lines for the main shops. They could just barely see the tower to the left of the Faerie Bubbles game, but once they saw it they made a beeline for the entrance. They made it inside and were pleasantly surprised that there was no one else there. Farren had his eye on a few items that were sold in the Hidden Tower, the Werelupe Claw Necklace and the Hubrid Nox Memorial Shield, but he knew he’d be purchasing the Grimoire of Prosperity first so he’d just be looking and trying to keep his eyes in his head. Bru had always wanted a Sword of Skardsen, so he went straight to that.

“You know, it doesn’t make any sense that the Darkest Faerie would be able to overcome Fyora with all of these powerful items. All of this should be enough to make you realize that this Tor fellow had to make up that story. Fyora is the most powerful faerie of all!” Bru brought their earlier discussion back up as he stared at the sword in awe.

“It does seem far-fetched; I just don’t know what to believe with all of these tales of defeating the Dark Faerie. Which one is true? How can we be sure?” Farren replied, stubborn and unsure. He wasn’t about to add naïve to his character traits-he wanted the truth.

“Considering the time that faeries have walked the lands of Neopia, would it be so hard to believe that ALL of the stories are true?” A very regal and gentle voice asked from behind them.

“Queen Fyora!” Bru and Farren both shouted at the Queen with surprise. Farren stammered on, “I don’t mean to question you M’lady, I’m just very young and confused from all the different tales. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful to your greatness!”

“That is quite alright. It is good to ask questions before believing everything you hear. There is a long history with the Dark Faerie, from which many tales grow. However, there are truths to these tales. Tormund and Roberta did indeed free me from the Darkest Faerie’s imprisonment after she escaped her imprisonment at the bottom of Maraqua. She sought revenge on me as I am the one who put her there. Tormund and Roberta arrived in the nick of time- The Darkest Faerie had used my own Fyora’s Rod to cause Faerieland to come crashing down. They managed to turn her to stone once more by using Jerdana’s Amulet and freed me in the process. Once they managed to free me and I was able to access the situation, I used my powers to stop Faerieland from crashing down on Neopia. It was very similar to Xandra using the artifacts and being stopped by Brynn and Hanso. So you see, while there is more than one tale, they are connected by the Darkest Faerie’s evil. Her history spans quite a long time frame, and there are many heroes in Neopia that step up to make things right, not just myself.” Fyora explained to Farren as he stood there open mouthed at this mind boggling revelation.

“That makes so much sense! Thank you Queen Fyora for helping me make sense of this, I’m so glad I understand now. I hadn’t taken time into consideration. It’s so hard to remember the factor of time because you’re so ageless.” Farren was finally as excited as Bru to meet the Queen. All this time, a little clarification was all he needed.

“With that being cleared up, I was wondering how you fine young lads would feel about finding a few items for me,” the Queen asked with a hint of a smile.